


Predator

by Ashton210



Series: RWBY STYLE [12]
Category: Predator Original Series (1987-1990), RWBY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashton210/pseuds/Ashton210
Summary: Predator but with Rwby characters.
Series: RWBY STYLE [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751530
Kudos: 1





	Predator

The sounds of a birds can be heard; the sounds of the jungle came to life as the different animals communicated with each other.

Suddenly a person ran through the jungle followed by five others.

The person in front of the group held out his hand signaling his men to stop. The man in charge revealed himself to be Cardin Winchester. Cardin and his mean are wearing combat gear and clothing suited for surviving in the jungle and for dealing with the heat. The group stopped as they aimed their weapons at the trees. "Where is it?"

"I don't know." One of the men said while aiming his weapon at the trees and looking around erratically making the other members of his team nervous. Suddenly the man was flung back as something impacted against him flinging him against a tree killing him.

Cardin and the rest of his team opened fire shooting in different directions. Another scream could be heard as another soldier was killed and another and another. Soon it was Cardin that was left as he moved his rifle around erratically and breathing heavily.

Cardin took a step back and into a snare that closed around his foot and yanked him up into the trees. Cardin is screaming and firing his rifle as he disappeared into the branches of the trees. Suddenly his screams and gunfire stopped as an object fell from the trees onto the ground. The object turned out to be Cardin's weapon covered in blood.

The scene changed to show a helicopter flying over the ocean and approaching a beach. Landing on the landing pad next to three others. The beach looked to be a staging area for the military. A man wearing an Atlas military uniform looked at the helicopter before closing the blinds and looked to the back of the room to show another person sitting at a table drinking.

The helicopter doors opened to show Sun, Ren, Neptune, Nora and Yang exiting the helicopter with their bags and stretching their legs.

The last person in the helicopter leaned back and put a cigar in his mouth before lighting it and puffing out smoke. The person revealed themselves to be Jaune wearing a cap with aviation shades on.

Jaune threw his bag out of the helicopter and exited, picking up his bag Jaune and the rest of his team got into jeeps waiting for them before departing the landing pads. Ironwood exited the building and stepped down just in time as the jeep transporting Jaune stopped in front of the building. Jaune got out of the jeep and removed his cap and also his shades.

Ironwood smiled at the sight of his old friend. "You're looking good, Jaune." Ironwood said extending his hand.

"It's been a long time, General." Jaune replied shaking his hand.

"Come on inside." Ironwood said gesturing the building behind him.

"18 hours ago, we lost a chopper," Ironwood said unrolling a map of the nearby jungle. "Carrying a cabinet minister and his aide from this charming little country." Ironwood explained to Jaune who smiled and continued smoking his cigar. "We've got a transponder fixed on their position... about here." Ironwood pointed to a location on the map that Jaune leaned in to take a better look.

"This cabinet minister, does he always travel on the wrong side of the border?" Jaune asked after looking at the location on the map then to Ironwood.

"Apparently, they strayed off course." Ironwood said after sighing. "We're fairly certain they're in White Fang hands." Ironwood said.

"So why don't you use the regular army?" Jaune asked after taking another puff of his cigar. "What do you need us for?"

"Cos some damn fool accused you of being the best." A different voice spoke up.

Jaune turned around to see his old time friend, Pyrrha. "Pyrrha!" He shouted while walking toward her.

Pyrrha rose from her chair and walked over to Jaune, "You bitch."

Suddenly Jaune raised his arm as did Pyrrha and the two locked hands in an arm wrestling contest. Each showing off their muscles.

Jaune and Pyrrha began arm wrestling with Jaune slowly moving Pyrrha's arm to the left. "What's the matter? Mistral Intelligence got you pushing too many pencils? Huh?" Jaune asked after seeing Pyrrha's arm move. Pyrrha didn't say anything but slowly pushed back. "Had enough?" Jaune asked with a smile.

"Make it easy on yourself, Jaune." Pyrrha said while slightly panting as Jaune continued to push her arm further to the left.

"Ok! Ok! Ok!" Pyrrha said with a smile after she lost and placed her free hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Never did know when to quit." Jaune said with a goofy grin.

"Damn good to see you, Jaune." Pyrrha said with a smile at seeing her old friend again.

"What is this fucking blouse business?" Jaune asked gesturing to her shirt.

"Forget about my shirt, man." Pyrrha said knocking Jaune's hand away and put her arm around Jaune and led him back to the table with Ironwood. "I heard about that little job you pulled off in Atlas. Very nice, Jaune."

"Good old days." Jaune said

"Yeah, like the good old days. Then how come you passed on Vacuo?" Pyrrha asked when they made back to Ironwood.

"Oh that wasn't my style." Jaune said looking to the various maps on the table.

"You got no style, Jaune. You know that." Pyrrha retorted.

"Come on. Why'd you pass?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune lit another cigar.

"We're a rescue team, not assassins." Jaune said after puffing out smoke. This got Pyrrha and Ironwood to look at each then back to Jaune who didn't notice.

"Now, what we gotta do?" Jaune asked Ironwood.

"That cabinet minister is very important to our scope of operations in this part of the Kingdom." Ironwood explained.

"Jaune, what the General is saying is that a couple of our friends are about to get squeezed and we can't let that happen." Pyrrha said cutting off Ironwood. "We need the best. That's why you're here."

Jaune looked to Ironwood then to Pyrrha. "Go on."

"Simple setup. One-day operation." Pyrrha began explaining. "We pick up their trail at the chopper, run them down and grab those hostages, bounce back across the border before anyone knows we were there."

"What do you mean, "We"?" Jaune asked Pyrrha.

"I'm goin' in with you, Jaune." Pyrrha said.

Jaune looked to Ironwood then back to Pyrrha. "General, my team always works alone. You know that."

"I'm afraid we all have our orders, Major." Ironwood said with a sigh.

"Once you reach your objective, Pyrrha will evaluate the situation and take charge." Ironwood said as Juane looked to Pyrrha who smiled before taking another puff of his cigar.

" _Gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John. He claims he has the misery but he has a lot of fun."_

The scene changed to show two helicopters passing over the jungle under the cover of night.

" _Oh, baby. Yeah, baby. Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah."_

" _Well, long tall Sally, she's built for speed."_ The scene changed to the inside of the helicopter with Jaune and his team getting ready for their mission. The interior is bathed in red light as the song continued to play in the background. Sun reached into his breast pocket and removed chewing Tabaco which he offered to Neptune who was shaving and shook his head at the offer. Sun just smiled and removed a wad and inserted it into his mouth.

" _Well, I saw Uncle John with baldheaded Sally. He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley. Oh, baby. Whoo, baby."_

Nora took a strip of tape and placed it on her weapon before looking to Yang who is reading a magazine on hair care.

" _Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah - ow!"_

Nora saw Yang distracted and rolled up the tape she didn't use and threw it at Yang who caught without looking. Yang looked up from her magazine and smiled at Nora who smiled back.

"Rendezvous points and radio freqs are indicated and fixed." Pyrrha said holding a light to a map in her lap. "AWACS contact on four-hour intervals." She said looking to Jaune who is wearing a headset similar to hers.

"Who's our backup?" Jaune asked.

"No such thing, this is a one-way ticket." Pyrrha said looking to Jaune. "Once we've crossed that border, we're on our own."

Jaune smiled and chuckled, "this is getting better by the minute." He said while leaning back.

Ren held a small mirror and applied black face paint to his cheek.

"Hey, Ren." Yang said but Ren ignored her. "Ren!" She shouted finally getting the attention of Ren. "Do you want to borrow my eyeliner?" she said with a goofy grin while Ren just looked at her. "You're applying face paint under your eyes... I thought you might want some eyeliner." She said still with the goofy grin and still Ren remained impassive. Yang sighed before going back to her magazine.

Sun offered the chewing tabaco to Nora. "Get the stinkin' shit out of my face." She said pushing his arm away.

Sun then offered the tabaco to Ren who just continued to work on his face paint.

"Bunch of slack-jawed idiots around here!" Sun yelled looking to everyone. "This stuff'll make you a goddam sexual tyrannosaurus, just like me." He said with a smile. Nora shifted seats and looked to Sun while gesturing to the grenade launcher in her hands.

"Yeah, strap this on your sore ass, Sun." Nore replied getting Ren to laugh while Neptune looked at Nora.

"Operation Grimm. Me and Jaune both got one." Pyrrha said while holding a lighter inscribed with the logo of Operation Grimm. Sun and Pyrrha sat opposite each other and Sun smiled at her. Pyrrha made the come here motion with her finger and Sun leaned forward.

"You're not my type." She said getting Sun to smile as he leaned back.

Alarms blared throughout the helicopter and Jaune listened in on his headset. "Okay," Jaune removed the headset and made a hand gesture for the others to get ready. Sun shut off the music while the others grabbed their gear. The two helicopters stopped and hovered while the one carrying Jaune and his team opened their door and Yang threw out the climbing rope. The other helicopter stood watch of the other and ready to provide cover.

Pyrrha looked out the doors to the trees, "never knew how much I missed this, Jaune." She shouted

"You never were that smart." Jaune said with a smile while a green light appeared behind him. "Yang, you're up." Yang grabbed the robe and repelled down followed by the others. Once on the ground they began their search for the missing helo that went missing. Finally, the group found the missing helo trapped in the branches of a tree looking like it's seen better days. Jaune gestured for Nora to climb up and so she threw a hook attached to a rope at the wreckage. After making sure that the rope is secure she began to climb the rope.

Finally, Nora made into the wreckage and began searching it for any clues, Pyrrha soon joined her and they looked into the cockpit only to find both pilots dead. Nora climbed down and ran to Jaune. "Both pilots each got one round in the head. Whoever hit it stripped the shit outta of it." She told him.

Jaune looked to the wreckage. "Took 'em out with a heat seeker."

"Another thing, Major." Nora said looking to Pyrrha as she approached them. "This isn't a regular army taxi. It looks more like a surveillance bird to me." She whispered the last part.

"We picked their trial yet?" Pyrrha asked stopping in front of Jaune.

"Ren's on it." Jaune told her, "heat seeker, Pyrrha. That's pretty sophisticated for the White Fang."

"Guess they're getting better equipped every day." Pyrrha said.

"Major! There were twelve Fangs. They took the two men from the chopper then they headed east." Ren told them. "Another thing, six men wearing Atlas military issued boots. They came in from the north and they followed the Fangs."

"Good job, keep on it." Jaune told Ren who nodded and resumed following the tracks. "Mean anything to you?" Jaune asked Pyrrha who shook her head.

"Probably just another rebel patrol. They operate in here all the time." Pyrrha said.

Ren followed the trail left behind while the rest trailed behind him making sure to get in his way. Jaune approached Nora who leaned against a tree. "What's he got?"

"Same story, Fangs took the two men from the chopper. Followed by the team with Atlas equipment." She said as Jaune stepped ahead of her. "Remember that op in Mistral tundra?"

"Still trying to forget it." Jaune said as he continued to follow Ren.

Ren emerged from the forest still tracking the trail left behind by the White Fang troops. He stopped next to a vine and cut the it in half. Grabbing one end he sucked on the vine but stopped when he heard a sound. Letting go of the vine showed water to be dripping out of the end of it. Moving slowly Ren moved toward the sound and pushed to the side some leaves only to see the most gruesome sight a man can see. Hanging upside down are the bodies of three people with their skin and organs removed.

Ren turned away and saw everyone looking at the sight before them with horrified looks on each of their faces.

"Holy mother of god." Nora said while crossing herself.

Neptune walked over to the bodies and kicked a bird that was feasting on the organs that lay on the ground. Taking out his knife he bent over and picked up a pair of bloodied dog tags that he threw to Jaune who caught them. looking them over Jaune wiped some of the blood away to reveal the name.

"Cardin Winchester..." Jaune said looking at the tags.

"Neptune, cut 'em down." Jaune said looking away from the sight and gesturing for Pyrrha to follow him while Neptune cut the vines holding them up. "I knew these men. Special Forces out of Beacon." Jaune said holding the tags out Pyrrha to see. "Now, what the hell were they doing here?"

"I don't know, Jaune. This is inhuman." Pyrrha said wiping the remaining blood off the dog tags. "Nobody told me there was an operation in this area." She said looking to Jaune." They shouldn't have been here."

"Well, somebody sent them." Jaune said not sounding convinced.

Neptune finished collecting the remaining dog tags and left the gruesome sight.

"The White Fang skinned them?" Nora asked looking to Neptune as he passed by her. "Why would they skin them?"

Neptune stood next to Sun. "Ain't no way for no soldier to die."

"What the hell happened here, Ren?" Jaune asked Ren who was kneeling and picking up spent bullet casings.

"It's strange, Major. There was a firefight. They were shooting in all directions." Ren said.

"Can't belief Cardin walked into an ambush."

"I don't belief he did." Ren said while putting back the casings where he found them. "I can't find a single track. It just doesn't make sense"

"What about the rest of Cardin's team?" Jaune asked hoping that the rest of the Cardin's teams were taken hostage.

"There's no sign, sir." Ren said, "they never left here. Hell, it's like they just disappeared" He said looking to the trees.

"Stick with the Fang trail. Let's get the hostages." Jaune told Ren who nodded and rose to resume following the trail. Jaune turned to face his men. "We move. Five-meter spread. No sound."

"It's time to let old painless out the bag." Neptune said which got Sun's attention as he turned to face Neptune and smiled. Sun removed his bag and tore open the covering to reveal a Minigun.

"Payback time." Sun said while picking up the weapon.

Jaune and his team moved out making sure to keep Ren in sight as they moved through the jungle unaware that they are being watched. A blue filter appeared showing red forms that resembled people and a gentle hum can be heard.

The group continued to make their way through the jungle while whatever was following them just continued to observe them. Jaune stopped and looked to the trees after getting the feeling of being watched but after seeing nothing decided to move on. Pyrrha walked on a slippery incline and almost tripped when she stepped on a loose log that fell and rolled down the hill. Making sure that nobody heard that she turned only to come face to face with Neptune.

"You're ghosting us. I don't care who you are back in the world. Give away our position one more time, I'll bleed you real quiet. Leave you here, got that?" Neptune said before leaving as Pyrrha wanted to retort but let it go.

Ren emerged from a group of ferns while Jaune gestured for half of his men to circle around to his right then to his left. He held out his rifle which Nora took and gave him a pair of binoculars, Jaune went into the prone positon and crawled till he came to a log, getting to his knees he looked through the binoculars. From his position he could see everyone in the White Fang camp and he made sure to count their numbers and making note of the guard positons before the sound of someone groaning grabbed his attention. Looking to the sound he saw a Faunus beaten and bloody with his hands bound behind his back when another Faunus came into view and asked the man for any information. The prisoner didn't answer but told the man to "go fuck himself" before the man grabbed the prisoner by his hair and put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger killing the prisoner.

Jaune set the binoculars down as he turned and leaned against the log before giving the signal for his to regroup. Once his team with him Nora gives Jaun back his rife. "They killed one of the hostages, we move." Jaune said as he gave the binoculars to Pyrrha who took them.

"Neptune, Sun - the nest." Jaune told them who nodded. "Ren, Nora - the guard." They also nodded understanding their assignment.

"Yang, Pyrrha - backup. As soon as they're set, I hit the fuel dump." Jaune said as he got up to leave everyone went to take care of the assignments. Sun and Neptune moved on the guard nest but stopped when they came across trip wires. Ren and Nora took care of the guards overlooking the camp.

"One down," Pyrrha said shifting her gaze to the guard nest. Sun and Neptune removed the trip wires and took out their knives and went to either side of the nest and began to whistle getting the attention of the guards as they looked over the edge only to be stabbed by Sun and Neptune. Once that was taken care of Pyrrha gave Jaune the okay to proceed. Jaune snuck his way to the makeshift generator being powered by an old truck. Seeing an opportunity Jaune gave the signal to hold, which Pyrrha repeated to the others.

Jaune removed his knife and cut the ropes holding the truck in place, then removing the explosive charge he set the timer and set the bomb in the back of the truck.

"What the hell is he doing?" Pyrrha said confused by his actions.

Once the bomb was in place he went to the back of the truck and lifted it so the blocks holding it off the ground fell over and Jaune pushed the truck forward so it rolled forward on its own and towards the makeshift mess hall.

"What the fuck..." Sun said confused at what he is seeing.

Seeing that the truck is in danger of crashing into the mess hall a White Fang soldier jumped into the driver's seat. Jaune upon seeing this grabbed a grenade from a pouch on his vest. The White Fang soldier in the driver's seat hit the brakes but by then it was too late, the bomb in the bed of the truck exploded just as the truck crashed into the mess hall killing the WF (White Fang) members eating.

"Show time, kid." Pyrrha said to Yang before jumping over the log.

Jaune pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it landing in the middle of a group of WF soldiers who were killed when the grenade went off.

"Where are they?" A WF soldier shouted as everyone in the camp started shooting in different directions. Seeing they're still confused Jaune used the grenade launcher attached to his rifle and fired destroying a building and hired his weapon.

"Target the center building." Pyrrha shouted as she shot her own weapon, a SMG and moved into the camp. Nora took cover behind a tree and fired her grenade launcher at the building Pyrrha suggested blowing it and took cover again.

Sun walked on the outskirts of the camp and quickly turned around to see three WF soldiers, quickly pulling the trigger Sun dispatched them as the Minigun spun to life. Neptune trailed behind Sun and came across another soldier and fired his own LMG before joining Sun as the two began working their way into the camo. A WF soldier ran to the helicopter and told the pilot to start it up while he climbed into the copilot's seat. Pyrrha appeared in front of the helicopter and shot the pilot while Jaune fired his grenade launcher blowing up the helicopter.

Neptune ran as bullets impacted against the ground behind him, the person shooting him sat in his position in the trees. Neptune took cover behind a log, "get that mother!" he shouted to Sun who fired upon the shooter and killed him.

Nora and Yang took cover behind some crates, Yang stood and fired her weapon getting the shooters to take cover while Nora fired her grenade launcher killing the WF soldiers.

Sun kicked down a door and encountered a group of WF soldiers running from him. Not hesitating he pulled the trigger and gunned them down before moving on. Jaune moved into a building killing any soldiers in his path as he exited the building he took cover from gunfire. A WF soldier appeared behind Jaune.

Jaune drew his machete and threw it behind him, the blade went through the soldier and hit the wood post behind him. Impaling him to the post.

"Stick around." Jaune said before moving forward.

"Hostages are inside!" Pyrrha shouted to Jaune behind her while she went off to regroup with the others. Jaune kicked in the door to the command center and found Adam and another soldier destroying documents.

"Knock knock," Jaune said before shooting Adam in the head causing him to stagger backward and out of the open window. Killing the other guard in the room Jaune went to the window and saw two WF soldiers running to meet with their friends. Seeing this Jaune whistled getting the attention of Nora who saw the two.

"I got it," Nora said as she pursued the two.

"Yang, call in position and situation. Get con-op on the line." Jaune told Yang who set to it.

Jaune heard footsteps behind him and quickly turned around and used the butt of his rifle to knock the person unconscious. Turning the person revealed it to be a woman with short black hair and two cat ears on top of her head.

"Shit," Jaune said after seeing cat Faunus. "Neptune! Any sign of the other hostage" he shouted while holstering his weapon and going to a wall that had been removed.

"Yo!" Neptune said while walking over to the Jaune with his weapon lowered. "Found the other guy - he's dead, too." He told Jaune when he reached him and removed his hat to wipe the sweat off his face. "And the gear from the chopper. But if they're Atlas, I'm a goddamn General." He said while putting back on his cap. "From the looks of it, our cabinet minister was Mistral Intelligence."

Jaune eyes looked down at the news.

"Another thing, Major. We were lucky." Neptune continued, "other guys we waxed were White Fang specialists." Jaune this time looked away at the revelation. "Something pretty big was going to happen here."

"Good work, Neptune. Clear the area. No traces." Jaune ordered looking back to Neptune. "Get the men ready to move."

"All right." Neptune said leaving Jaune alone with his thoughts who now looked pissed.

Nora ran to Sun who is watching a WF soldier in a nest shooting at their teammates but they couldn't hit him from their position. "Son of a bitch is dug in, like a tick." Sun told Nora who looked at him then to his left arm taking note of the three bullet wounds.

"You're hit. You're bleeding man." Nora stated.

"I ain't got time to bleed." Sun said unfazed by the fact that he got shot in the arm.

"Okay." Nora said with a smirk before aiming her grenade launcher in the air and fired three times before taking cover. "You got time to duck?" She asked just in time as the grenades she fired into air came back down to earth and hit the guy in the next. Sun immediately got to cover next to Nora as she smiled as dirt fell on top of them. Sun on the other hand covered his head from the falling dirt.

The scene changed to show Pyrrha entering the command building. "This is goddamn beautiful." She said as she began to sort through the papers left. "Goddamn jackpot," she said digging through the papers on the floor while Jaune watched from the window. "This is more than we ever thought we'd get. We got those bastards."

Jaune left the window and walked over to Pyrrha. "We got 'em" she said with a hint a satisfaction.

"I think this is what you're looking for." Jaune said offering a piece of paper to Pyrrha who took it only to be picked up and pushed against the wall by Jaune. "You set us up!" He yelled holding her by her plate vest. "It's all bullshit. All of it."

"The cabinet minister, the whole business. Got us in here to do your dirty work."

"We just stopped a major attack. In three days they'd have crossed the border and hit Vale." Pyrrha said not bothering to hide it anymore now that Jaune and his men completed their mission.

"Why us?" Jaune asked.

"Because nobody else could've pulled it off." Pyrrha said looking Jaune straight in the eye to show that she wasn't lying. "You're pissed about the cover story. I knew that I couldn't get you in here without it."

"So, what story did you hand to Cardin?" Jaune asked striking a nerve in Pyrrha as her tone lowered.

"We've been looking for this place for months." Pyrrha stated. "My men were in that chopper when it got hit!" she raised her voice at the end of the sentence. "Cardin's orders were to find my men and he disappeared."

"He didn't disappear. He was skinned alive!" Jaune shouted.

"Then my orders were to get somebody who could crack these bastards!" Pyrrha shouted back.

"So you cooked up a story and dropped the six of us in a meat grinder." Jaune scoffed as he let Pyrrha go. "What happened to you, Pyrrha? You used to be somebody I could trust." He asked.

"I woke up." Pyrrha simply said. "Why don't you? You're an asset, an expendable asset."

"I used you to get the job done, got it?" Pyrrha asked.

"My men are not expendable." Jaune says backing away from Pyrrha, "and I don't do this kind of work." He said before leaving Pyrrha alone with the unconscious Faunus.

"Major! Major, we stepped into some real shit here!" Yang yelled.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked stopping next to Yang as she began putting away the radio.

"Air surveillance says we've got Fangs all over the place." She said while folding the portable antenna dish. "Can't be more than one, two miles away."

"How much time?" Jaune asked.

"Half an hour, maybe less."

"Tell Neptune we move in five." Jaune told Sun who now has his arm bandaged, Sun nodded and took off to find Neptune.

"Wait, she goes with us." Pyrrha says emerging from the building with the cat Faunus hands zipped tied in front of her.

"She's too valuable." Pyrrha says making to keep an arm on the prisoner. "She's got intel on their whole network."

"She'll give away our position any chance she gets. No deal." Jaune says before removing his plate vest and also his outer shirt, so all he is left with is a plain olive drab shirt. Putting back on his vest he pulls another cigar from his pouch on his vest.

"You're still under orders, Major." Pyrrha pointed out. "Now, you wanna make that call or should I?"

Jaune placed the cigar in his mouth and lit the tip before closing the lighter and taking out his cigar. "She's your baggage." He says pointing to Pyrrha, "you fall behind and you're on your own." Jaune says before leaving while Pyrrha looks down before pushing her prisoner to move.

Infrared POV

The camera changed back to the infrared as the angle came from above the trees observing the Jaune and his team. Distorted voices can be heard.

"This place is too hot for a pickup." Jaune says passing by Nora. "They won't touch us till we get over the border." Walking over the wreckage of the helicopter Jaune sees Ren. "Hey, Ren. Give me a way out of this hole. Aerial says we are cut off." Jaune informs Ren while showing him a map of the area.

"The only way outta here is that valley that leads to the east." Ren tells Jaune pointing to said valley on the map, having already looked at the map before and made sure to take note of key landmarks. "I wouldn't risk that with a gun to my head." Ren says looking to Jaune who sighs.

"Not much choice." Jaune says before looking to Nora. "Nora, take lead. Double-time it." Nora nods and takes the lead while Jaune sees Pyrrha and her prisoner. Taking one last huff of his cigar Jaune throws the rest away.

Infrared POV

The drone continues to watch and zooms in on Pyrrha and her prisoner to see the cat Faunus turn and hit Pyrrha only to have no effect.

Normal POV

"Murderers!" The cat Faunus shouted at Pyyrha and the rest of Jaune's team. "All you do is murder my people. We are just trying to get equal rights for our people!"

"Through violence and fear." Pyrrha retorted as she trailed behind the cat Faunus. "Which isn't helping your cause."

"How is that any different from what the humans have done to us!" The cat Faunus shouted again, "We are freedom fighter for the Faunus!"

"You and the White Fang are nothing but terrorists!" Pyrrha shouted as she pushed the cat Faunus and pointed her finger past the Faunus telling her to move.

"Pyrrha! Pyrrha!" Neptune shouted getting the redhead's attention as she turned to face him. "Over here."

Infrared POV

The drone is watching Neptune say "over here" but the audio is distorted. Zooming in on Neptune the drone recorded Neptune saying "over here" multiple times.

Normal POV

Pyrrha looked to her prisoner who stool still already knowing to not try anything. Pyrrha walked over to Neptune who told her to turn around. "Why?" She asked.

Neptune looked to the trees with his eyes getting Pyrrha to turn around to see what he is looking at. The moment she does Neptune pulls out a knife with the blade aimed at Pyrrha's back.

Neptune made a stabbing motion, the moment Pyrrha felt the blade she turned around quickly aiming her weapon at Neptune. Neptune showed the tip of the knife and on the end is a scorpion still alive.

"Thanks." Pyrrha tells Neptune before moving out to catch up with Jaune.

"Anytime." Neptune whispers putting the scorpion under his boot and crushing it.

"Hey Ren! Ren!" Yang yelled at Ren who turned around to look at her. "The other day I went to my boyfriend and I said, "jeez, you got a big cock. jeez, you got a big cock." He said "why did you say that twice?" I said "I didn't."" She says waiting for Ren but he remains impassive. "See, it cos of the echo." Yang says with a stupid smile as she left to join the others.

Ren thought about the joke for a minute before he started laughing.

Infrared POV

The drone watched Ren laughing. Just like with Neptune the drone started to record the laugh.

Normal POV

Ren began walking out of the camp still laughing when he suddenly stopped and turned around the face the camp making sure to look to the trees surrounding the camp. After a minute of looking Ren ran out of the camp to catch up with the others but he couldn't shake the feeling that they are being watched.

Infrared POV

The drone slowly descended and played back the recordings of Neptune's "over here" and of Ren's laughter. The audio is very distorted but it is still possible to make out what is being said, each time the audio is replayed it clears up so it sounds like Ren and Neptune are there. The camera moves into the camp and a guttural clicking sound can be heard just as the camera moves to the crate that Neptune was standing. A hand appears and takes the dead scorpion in its hand and opens its palm to see the outline of the dead scorpion.

"Anytime."

Normal POV

The group of soldiers made their way through the jungle to the valley that Ren spoke of. A lot of the members ditched their outer clothing so they can deal with the heat bearing down on them. The group took a break to rest and to check in with command.

"Goddamn!" Neptune said as he sat down and took a drink of water from his canteen. "Buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy!" Putting away his canteen he pulled out a flask from his vest pouch. "I've seen some bad-ass bush before, man, but nothing' like this."

Sun undid his jacket and set it aside. "I hear you. This shit's somethin'." He says looking to Neptune. "Makes Mistral look tame in comparison."

"Hey," Neptune said getting Sun's attention. "Little taste of home." He offered the flask to Sun who takes it and takes a drink.

"You lose it here, you're in a world of hurt." Sun said before checking over his gear.

The camera changed to show Pyrrha and the Faunus walking through the jungle. Suddenly the Faunus tripped and fell.

"Come on, stop sandbaggin' it. Now, get up." Pyrrha says looking down but the Faunus doesn't move. "Come on, get up." she bends over help the Faunus get back up. "Would you get up?" Pyrrha reached out to grasp the Faunus' shoulder only to be blinded when the Faunus rolled over and threw leaves and dirt at Pyrrha blinding her.

"Fuck you!" The Faunus prisoner yelled before crawling away in an attempt to escape.

"Going somewhere?" Nora's voice could be heard as the prisoner stopped and looked up to see Nora aiming her weapon at her. "Maybe you should keep a better eye on her, agent." She told Pyrrha who ran to catch up.

Pyrrha didn't say anything as she looked at Nora then grabbed her prisoner and yanked her up. "Try it again... please." She told her prisoner who just looked at her but didn't say anything as she pushed the Faunus forward while Nora just looked at them.

The scene changed again to show Ren walking in front of the group with everyone trailing behind when something caught his attention. Ren moved forward slowly and entered a clearing in which he stopped to look at the trees.

Infrared POV

The camera moved to focus on Ren.

Normal POV

Ren continued to observe the trees not moving, Jaune held out his hand signaling everyone to stop and to spread out.

Ren held his necklace as he continued to observe the trees.

"What's got Ren so spooked?" Jaune asked Neptune who just shrugged.

"Can't say Major. Been acting squirrelly ever since the camp." Neptune told Jaune. "That damn nose of his... it's weird."

Jaune walked over to Ren in the clearing while the rest waited. Pyrrha crouched next to her prisoner who noticed a branch right in front of her. Jaune entered the clearing and walked over to Ren. "What is it?" He asked but Ren didn't respond as he continued to look at the trees before them. "Ren...?" when Ren didn't respond Jaune grabbed Ren's vest getting Ren to look at Jaune.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jaune asked now having Ren's attention. Ren looked away from Jaune and back to the trees.

"There's something in those trees." He said getting Jaune to look at the trees.

Infrared POV

The camera showed something is watching both Ren and Jaune.

Normal POV

Pyrrha whistled at Nora getting her attention and gestured to her to watch over her prisoner who nodded. Nora took Pyrrha's spot as Pyrrha moved forward to see what is going on.

Nora looked at the prisoner who turned and looked back. The Faunus smiled showing her teeth and small canines.

Infrared POV

Whoever is in the trees watched Ren and Juane talk with each other but their voices came out distorted. (distorted)" Do you see anything? Up there." Ren asked.

(distorted) "Nothing." Juane said shaking his head before it camera zoomed in on their faces. You couldn't make out their features just the heat from their face. "What do you think?"

Normal POV

Ren sighed and let go of his necklace. "I guess it's nothing, Major." He said before continuing to move forward.

The Faunus seeing her chance grabbed the branch and hit Nora in the face and took off running. Everyone heard the sound and turned around to see the prisoner running off.

Infrared POV

The camera showed the person in the trees tracking the Faunus running through the jungle.

Normal POV

Jaune whistled for Yang to pursue her, Yang took off into the forest.

Infrared POV

The camera showed Yang heat signature running through the jungle.

Normal POV

The Faunus has a good lead but Yang is quickly catching up.

Infrared POV

The camera showed an overhead view of the two heat signature running through the jungle.

Normal POV

Yang finally caught up to the Faunus and tackled her. The Faunus began struggling to get free from Yang.

Infrared POV

The camera moved closing in on the two. Distorted shouts can be heard.

Normal POV

Yang finally got the Faunus under control. "Calm down, Hey!" Yang rainsed her voice to get the Faunus to calm down which she did. Something behind Yang caught the prisoners eye as she looked behind Yang. Yang turned around to see what looked like something walking toward her, she could see through it but the image appeared distorted almost like looking through a broken mirror.

Infrared POV

The camera closed in on Yang's face.

Normal POV

Switching views showed the Faunus and Yang screamed before blood splattered onto the Faunus. Blood coated her hair and the entire left side of her face and upper torso.

Nora and the others ran through the jungle following the trail the Yang left. Changing scenes showed an invisible hand grabbing Yang's foot and started to drag her body away. Finally, Nora caught up with the prisoner who is trying to crawl away, grabbing the Faunus and pushing her upright. Nora saw the Faunus covered in blood and looking scarred. Before she can ask what happened the sounds of leaves rustling drew her attention, looking for the source she saw drag marks leading into the bushes.

Following the tracks, Nora came across a blood trail. Following the trail, she finds the radio that Yang carried covered in blood and her weapon. The blood trail continued and she followed the tail which led her to some tree leaves that blocked her vision. Pushing the leaves aside she sees bloody organs and intestines on the ground.

Nora almost lost her lunch but she held it back. the screen showed the Faunus right where Nora left her and Jaune and the others came running. "Sun, break left. Neptune, right." He ordered as she stopped and kneeled next to the Faunus who now looked like she's in a trance. "What the..." Jaune said after seeing the blood on the Faunus.

"This isn't her blood."

"What the hell'd you do to him?" Pyrrha asked kneeling on the other side of the prisoner.

Nora came back to the group looking sick. "Major... you'd better take a look at this." She said.

"Did you find Yang?" Jaune asked checking over the prisoner for any wounds.

"I... I can't tell." Nora said honestly getting Jaune to look at Pyrrha with confusion. Jaune rose and followed Nora who showed him what he found before.

"What in god's name..." Jaune asked shocked at what he is seeing.

"I think it's Yang." Nora told him.

"Where the hell is her body?" Jaune asked still looking at the scene before him hoping that it isn't real.

"There's no sign of it."

"Ask her what happened." Jaune told Nora who went to ask the prisoner what happened.

Nora walked to the prisoner with Pyrrha standing guard and took a knee. "What happened here? What happened to Yang? Hey!" Nora shouted breaking the Faunus out of her trance.

"I... I..." The Faunus said focusing on Nora.

"What happened to Yang?" Nora asked again.

"The jungle came alive and took her." The Faunus whispered that only Nora could hear.

"She says the jungle... it just came alive and took him." Nora called her shoulder to Jaune who looked at the bloody radio and weapon.

"Bullshit! That's not what she said!" Pyrrha said looking to Nora. "What she said doesn't make any sense."

"Those sappers have been following us ever since the camp." Nora said. "They've been in front of us! She gave away our positon." She yelled at Pyrrha.

"She's been in my sight!" Pyrrha yelled back.

"You lied to us! So why should I believe you!"

"Hold it! Jaune yelled trying to break up the argument between Nora and Pyrrha. "Hold it!" Finally getting their attention. "Why didn't they take her radio or her weapon?" He then gestured to the prisoner. "Why didn't she escape?"

Pyrrha and Nora thought about what Jaune said, then a thought occurred to her. "Cardin."

"What?" Jaune asked looking to Pyrrha who looked at Jaune.

"They did the same thing to Cardin Winchester."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha coming to the same thought as Pyrrha. "I want Yang's body found." He ordered his men. "Sweep pattern. Double back. 50 meters. Let's go." Jaune told them as everyone began searching for Yang's body. Pyrrha grabbed the Faunus and everyone began their search.

Jaune stopped and looked around for any clues but didn't see anything and so he moved on. What he didn't see was the vine that had blood dripping on it. The camera slowly moved up to follow where the blood was coming from and showed Yang hanging upside down with her chest sliced open.

Sun walked through the jungle but stopped when he heard the sound of movement and aimed his weapon at the direction of the sound. "Come on, you fuckers. Old painless is waiting." Sun said as he flicked off the safety and waited. A small animal came out of the bushes and Sun scoffed at the animal and turned away. Sun heard something and turned to see what it was; he didn't see a blue ball coming toward his back.

The ball impacted against his back and blew apart his chest.

Neptune heard the sound and turned to see Sun falling over. Running over he sees Sun's body and standing over him is the outline of a person that matches the same one that killed Yang, Neptune isn't sure what he is seeing and the invisible person's eyes flashed yellow before disappearing.

"Contact!" Neptune yelled as began shooting at the figure which took off running. Hearing the gunfire everyone ran towards Neptune's position. The figure ran away into the bushes causing the leaves to sway with something bright green on the leaf. Neptune kept firing his LMG until he ran out of ammo, removing his hat he picked up Sun's Minigun and began firing. Trees were cut down from the Minigun as Neptune moved the Minigun back and forth in an arc in an attempt to hit whatever he saw. Soon everyone arrived and they all joined Neptune by firing their weapons. Nora pulled out her grenade launcher and fired four grenades into the jungle.

After a two minutes of shooting the Minigun ran out ammo but Neptune kept the trigger pressed down so the barrels kept spinning making a grinding sound getting Jaune to look at Neptune who finally let the trigger go. The area in front of the group is destroyed, smoke and destroyed trees could be seen.

Jaune stepped forward looking at the destruction they just caused. "What happened?" he asked Neptune.

"I saw it." Neptune said

"You saw what?"

"I saw it." Neptune repeated still holding the Minigun. Jaune looked at Neptune with concern as Neptune looked shocked. Gesturing to Nora and Ren to take a look Jaune knelt down to get a better look at Sun's body as did Pyrrha who rolled him onto his back. Sun's chest is blown open.

"Sun..." Jaune said examining the body. "No powder burns, no shrapnel."

"The wound's all fused, cauterized." Pyrrha added her own observations. "What the hell could have done this to a man?" She asked Jaune who looked at Neptune.

"Neptune... Neptune, look at me!" Jaune said getting his attention. "Who did this?"

"I don't know goddamn it. I saw something."

Jaune looked back to Sun's body before Nora came running back. "Not a thing. Not a fuckin' trace." She told them. "No blood, no bodies. We hit nothing."

Jaune looked at the area in front of him. "Pyrrha, better get on the radio." He said, "Neptune... "

When Neptune didn't answer Jaune turned around. "Sergeant!"

"Yes, sir." Neptune said snapping out of his trance.

"I want a defensive position above that ridge," Jaune said pointing out the area to Neptune. "Mined with everything we've got." He said then looked down to Sun's body. "Put him in his poncho. Take him with us."

Nora stepped forward, "I got him." Neptune looked at Nora getting her to stop then to Jaune who gestured for her to follow him. Neptune kneeled next to Sun and sighed.

The scene changed to show the Faunus reaching out to touch the leaf with something bright green on it. The moment she touched it Pyrrha appeared. "Let's go." She said, as the prisoner went to join her she wiped her hands on her pants.

Neptune is currently setting up traps while Pyrhha and Nora set up the radio. Making sure to camouflage the tripwires and traps with moss so they blend in with the environment. "Major, I set up flares, frags and claymores." He said once he is done to Jaune who is perched on a log overlooking Neptune. "Nothing's coming near this place without tripping on something."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Jaune said looking down to Neptune who nodded and went to check on something. "Neptune..." He said stopping Neptune. "He was a good solider."

"He was, uh... my friend." Neptune said getting Jaune to look at him with sorrow.

"He was all of ours." Jaune said getting Neptune to nod before leaving.

Neptune went to Sun's body in his poncho, flipping back the cover he took out his flask and took a sip and closed it. He put the flask on Sun's body, "goodbye, bro." Neptune said before covering the body once again.

The Faunus ditched her outer shirt so she is wearing a tank top and she is looking at her pants which are glowing green like the leaf from before. Changing scenes to show a log with the same green substance as before on the leaf. More dropped onto the log as the sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard before an outline of a leg could be seen. Beeping could be heard as the outline soon filled in the details of the figure. The figure has reptilian skin, long claw like nails are on the hand and the person is wearing a gauntlet. They are bleeding from a leg would and they are bleeding bright green blood.

The hands pressed a case and a lid opened and a section slid out revealing various medical tools. Grabbing a vial, the figure opened it and poured the contents on the wound before grabbing an injector and injecting the liquid into the wound. Setting the injector aside the person grabbed what looked like a tuning fork and pressed against the wound and a snapping sound could be heard before the figure grabbed their leg in pain and roared that isn't human or Faunus. The camera changed to show a brief scene of the figure. The figure is revealed to be muscular and wearing light armor that covers their legs and thighs and gauntlets. The figure is also wearing a mask that covers their face and they are sitting on a tree branch.

The Faunus looked up to the trees with fear after hearing the roar, she looked to Ren who also heard it and is looking to the trees. She looked at Pyrrha and Nora but they didn't hear it.

"Blazer one, I repeat, exraction necessary." Pyrrha said over the radio. "Say again, Blazer one. Say again."

" _Request for extraction denied. Area is still compromised. Proceed to sector 3,000 for prisoner extraction. Priority, out. Next contact 0930."_

Pyrrha looked at her watch. "Roger, Blazer one. 1030 hours." She handed the radio back to Nora. "Damn bastards." She said just as Jaune entered the makeshift camp. "They say we're still in too far. They can't risk coming in."

"We're assets, Pyrrha." Jaune said taking a seat. "Expendable assets." He said throwing her words back at her.

"It comes with the job. I can accept it." She said.

"Bullshit. You're just like the rest of us." Jaune retorted to which Pyrrha stayed silent.

"Shitload of good a chopper's gonna do us in here anyhow." Nora said just as Neptune came walking in and took a seat across from Pyrrha.

"Sergeant? Sergeant! Sergeant!" Pyrrha yelled finally getting Neptune's attention. "Who hit us today?"

"I don't know. I only saw one of them camouflaged." Neptune said, "he was there. Those eyes disappeared."

"What was that?" Jaune asked catching the last part.

"Those eyes, they... they disappeared." Neptune said recalling what he saw. "I know one thing, Major. I drew and fired straight at it. Capped off 200 rounds in the Minigun... full pack. Nothing... nothing on this earth could have lived." Neptune said. "Not at that range."

"Neptune, you take first watch, then you get some rest." Jaune told Neptune who nodded and went to his post.

"Ask her. Ask her what she saw." Pyrrha told Nora while pointing to her prisoner. "Ask her what happened to Yang." Nora looked to Jaune who gave her the go ahead.

"Hey! Earlier today what happened?" Nora asked the Faunus.

"I already told you what happened. Your friend was killed by the jungle." The prisoner said.

"Same thing as before. The jungle, it came alive and took her." Nora relayed what the prisoner told her. Then she looked to Ren. "Ren... you know something. What is it?" She asked.

"I'm scared, Nora." Ren said while holding his medallion.

"Bullshit. You ain't afraid of no man." Nora told Ren.

"There's something out there waiting for us..." Ren said letting go of his necklace and stood up. "And it ain't no man. We're all gonna die." He said before leaving the group.

"He's losing his cool." Pyrrha said looking to Jaune. "There's nothing but a couple of guys running around out there." She said getting Jaune to shake his head at her.

"You still don't understand, Pyrrha, do you?" He said. "Whatever it is out there, it killed Cardin, and now it wants us."

Neptune stood watch while the others sleep looking at the moon. "Here we are again, bro, just you and me." He said with a smile, "same kind of moon and same kind of jungle. Real number 10 night, remember?" He asked the moon expecting an answer. "Whole platoon, 32 men chopped into meat, and we walk out, just you and me." Neptune recalls smiling at the memory. "Nobody else. Right on top, bro. Not a scratch. Not a fuckin' scratch."

"You know, whoever got you, he'll come back again." Neptune said as his voice lowered and became threatening. "And when he does, I'm gonna cut your name right into him. I'm gonna cut your name into him." Neptune promised.

Rustling got the attention of Neptune as he turned around to see what is causing the noise just as the flares went off waking everyone up.

"What the hell is it?"

"Neptune!"

Neptune saw something and fired his weapon only to get tackled knocking his weapon out of his hand.

"This way! Over here!"

"Neptune, where are you?!"

Neptune struggled with his opponent as everyone ran to Neptune. Pulling out his knife Neptune began stabbing his opponent. "Fuck you!" Neptune yelled as he continued to stab.

"Don't fuck with me." Neptune said as he killed his opponent. Nora found Neptune and shined her light at the him and the scene.

"Neptune?" Nora said.

"Jesus." Jaune said looking at the scene before him.

"I got you, motherfucker." Neptune said catching his breath. "I killed you, you fuck."

Nora shined the light at Neptune's kill and found a boar still twitching. "Jesus! You killed a pig."

"What the...?" Jaune said.

"Do you think you could have found something bigger?" Nora asked getting Ren to laugh.

"Fuck you, Nora. Fuck you!" Neptune said while wiping the blood off his knife.

"Where's the girl?" Jaune asked seeing Pyrrha next to him.

"Ah, shit!" Pyrrha said realizing her mistake as she ran back to the camp as did everyone else.

"Why wasn't anybody watching her?" Nora asked as they ran back into the camp and found the prisoner in the same spot they left her.

"Why didn't she try to get away?"

"Look at her. she's scared out of her mind." Jaune pointed out and indeed the prisoner looked scared.

"Major, you better take a look at this." Ren said shining his flashlight on the ground. Jaune walked over and saw the poncho that they put Sun's body into. Only to find it empty. "Sun's body, it's gone."

"It came in through the tripwires." Nora said looking to the empty poncho then to Jaune. "Took it right out from under our noses."

The next morning the group is trying to figure out what happened the night before. "That boar had to set off the trip flare, Major, cos there ain't no other tracks." Ren said while looking for more tracks.

"How could anyone get through this and carry out Sun without us knowing it?" Nora asked. "Why didn't he try and kill one of us?"

"He came in to get the body." Jaune said looking for any clues. "He's killing us one at a time."

"Like a hunter." Ren said.

Jaune looked closely at the ground before a thought came to him as he looked up to the trees then to the rest of his men. "He's using the trees."

Jaune went to the prisoner Faunus and picked her up off the ground with Pyrrha standing guard. "Yesterday, what did you see?" he asked.

"You're wasting your time." Pyrrha said looking away.

"No more games." Jaune said shaking the Faunus slightly.

"I don't know what it was." The prisoner said getting Pyrrha's attention. "It..."

"Go on."

"It changed colors like the chameleon." She said looking Jaune in the eyes so he knew that she wasn't lying. "It uses the jungle."

"Are you saying that Sun and Yang were killed by a fuckin' lizard?" Pyrrha asked with disbelief. "That's a bullshit psych job. There's two or three men out there at the most. Not a fucking lizard!"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha then back to the prisoner. "What's your name?" He asked her.

"Blake."

Jaune pulled out his knife which caused Blake's breath to hitch as she saw it. "Blake, this thing is hunting us. All of us." Jaune said. "You know that." Blake nodded and Jaune cut her binding's freeing her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pyrrha asked looking to the cut bindings.

"We need everyone." Jaune said walking away from her.

"I'm taking her back. We're out of here." Pyrrha said pointing to Blake.

"We're not going yet." Jaune said turning around to face Pyrrha.

"The rendezvous is 10 miles away." Pyrrha said, "you think the chopper'll wait?"

"Pyrrha, we make a stand now, or there will be nobody left to go to the chopper." Jaune told her before going back to the rest of his team.

"There is something else." Blake said getting his attention. "When the Faunus was killed, you must have wounded it. Its blood was on the leaves." She told him.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it." Jaune said already forming a plan.

Neptune set a claymore in the tree branches and covered it with moss, once everything is in place he made sure the wire is secured and pulled the pin out arming the claymore. Changing scenes showed Ren and Jaune throw a rope around a tree and start pulling it down, both are struggling to pull it down.

Nora climbed up a tree and started cutting the vines that Blake collected. Rolling the vines up Blake took it and threw upon a pile of other vines. Neptune stood on a log and threw a bundle of rope to Ren who began to tie it. Pyrrha stood over Blake as she weaved vines together to create a makeshift net.

"You really think this boy-scout bullshit's gonna work?" Pyrrha asked Jaune who is tying off a rope.

"It can see our tripwires. Maybe it can't see this." Jaune said after making sure the rope is tied off and walked off. "Instead of complaining, maybe you should help." he suggested to Pyrrha as he walked by her. Pyrrha scoffed and did a mock salute.

Ren, Pyrrha, Neptune and Jaune worked together to pull a tree down to the ground to help in their trap. Pyrrha wore a brown tank top while the others didn't have shirts on showing off their muscles and the sweat making them shine in the sunlight.

Ren stepped onto the net and threw dead leaves onto the net to hide it before moving on to tie a rope around a spike and gave a thumbs up.

Finally finished setting up their traps Jaune and the rest hid in the leaves and waited. Neptune pulled out his blue razor and ran it over his chin, he pressed the razor into his skin hard enough to draw blood and broke the head of the razor. Pyrrha looked at him with concern.

"What makes you think he'll come in through here?" Pyrrha asked Jaune.

"There are tripwires on every tree for 50 yards." Jaune told Pyrrha before gesturing to the small clearing where they set their trap. "This is the only way in." He said before Pyrrha moved to a different spot.

"When I was little, we found a man." Blake said breaking the silence in the group. "He looked like... like he was butchered. The old women in my village prayed and said strange things that I didn't understand." She said as Nora looked at her. "Only in the hottest years this happens. And this year it grows hot. We began finding our hunters."

"We found them sometimes without their skin, and sometimes much, much worse." Blake shivered as she recalled the memories, Jaune looked at her recognizing that what happened to Cardin has been happening for a while. "My mother told me that a demon lives in the jungle. She called it "The demon that makes trophies of hunters.""

The sounds of birds grabbed everyone's attention as they looked at the trees and saw nothing. "So, what are you gonna try next? Cookies?" Pyrrha asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Jaune didn't say anything but got up and left the hiding spot. "Hey, Jaune. Jaune!"

Jaune didn't respond as he stepped out into the clearing making sure to watch where he steps so he doesn't set off the traps. Moving forward his right foot got caught on something, looking down he sees that his foot his caught on the trip wire. Making sure to remove his foot carefully and continued walking making sure to keep an eye on the trees, stopping he eyed the trees before relaxing and turned around before the net sprung up catching an unseen prey. Screeching could be heard as everyone ran out of hiding.

An explosion knocked everyone back, a blue ball came from the net and hit a large tree branch causing it to break free. Vines wrapped around the broken tree branch turning it into a makeshift pendulum, everyone jumped out of the way save for Nora who saw it too late and got hit by it flinging her back a few feet.

The creature jumped out of the net and onto the tree while Neptune rolled onto his side and started shooting at the faint outline. Pyrrha looked at the outline with shock as it leaned out from the tree, its cloak disabled revealing itself to Pyrrha. A pauldron covered its right shoulder and a cylinder object sat on top of the pauldron looking like a weapon. What appeared to be dreadlocks with silver and gold rings on them appeared to be the hair. A necklace made from the bones of different animals sat around its neck. The creature activated its cloak and disappeared before running off.

"Got you, motherfucker! I got you!" Neptune yelled as he started shooting. "I'm coming!" he yelled as he took off in pursuit of the creature that killed his friend.

"Neptune! Neptune!" Jaune yelled at his teammate took off. "Get Nora on her feet and get to the chopper." He ordered Ren before going off to chase Neptune only to be stopped by Pyrrha.

"Hold it. I'm going after Neptune." She told Jaune.

"That's not your style, Pyrrha." Jaune said

"Guess I picked up some bad habits from you. Now get your people the hell outta here." She told Jaune.

"You can't win this, Pyrrha."

"Maybe I can get even." She said before going after Neptune.

"Pyrrha."

Pyrrha turned around and caught a SMG that Jaune tossed to her so she now carried two. "Just hold on to that damn chopper." She said before going after Neptune.

Nora is groaning in pain as Ren bandages her chest as Jaune runs to them. "She's busted up pretty bad, Major." Ren told Jaune.

"I can make it." Nora said through gritted teeth. "I can make it."

"Get the radio. Forget the rest." Jaune told Ren before kneeling and helping Nora up. "Come on, Nora."

Jaune and Blake carried Nora while Ren tailed behind them.

The scene changed to show Neptune still chasing the creature and ran up a sloped incline but tripped. Throwing his hat off he began crawling up the incline. Neptune stopped and began pulling out ammo belt attached to a bag on his vest. "Long tall sally, she's built sweet. She got everything that uncle John needs." Unzipping his vest which he removed. "Oh, baby, baby. I'm gonna have me some fun tonight." Grabbing his weapon, he began moving up the incline. "I'm gonna have me some fun" (x3).

Pyrrha found Neptune's discarded vest and followed his tracks. Stopping to catch her breath Pyrrha leaned against a tree and put the second SMG on her back.

"Over here."

Pyrrha heard a whisper and aimed her weapon trying to find the source.

"Over here."

Pyrrha slowly moved forward and jumped down a small incline. "Neptune?" Pyrrha slowly moved while crouched just as a hand grabbed her and pulled her back into some bushes.

"Shh..." Neptune whispered. "Out there. Past them trees." Pointing to the trees in front of them. "You see it?"

Pyrrha looked at where Neptune is pointing and saw nothing at first but then she saw a faint outline perched on a tree branch.

"I see you." Neptune said.

"I see it." Pyrrha said. "Yeah... I see it. You know, we can get this thing, Neptune." She said not taking her eyes off the outline. "You work you your way down there toward him. I'll get in back of him, flush him toward you. When I flush that son of bitch, you nail him."

"I got a score to settle." Neptune said thinking back to Sun and the promise he made.

"We've both got scores to settle." Pyrrha told him before moving to flank the creature. Neptune went into the prone position and began crawling to the creature while Pyrrha made sure to stay in the bushes. Neptune crawled under some tree roots on his back but stopped when something caught his eye. On his left arm is three red dots, moving so he could see between the roots. Neptune's eyes open widely as the red dots are on his head, Neptune's blood flew out from the back of his head and landed on the camera turning the screen red.

Pyrrha stopped when she heard something but kept moving. Neptune's body collapsed onto the logs, the back of his head as a hole and blood flowed from the wound dying his blue hair red. The camera changed to show an upward angle to show the outline of the creature standing on the roots, a red laser disappeared from where the head would be. The invisible creature made a low clicking sound before moving on leaving the body as the leg twitched.

Blake went ahead of the group. "Quickly!" she called her over shoulder as Jaune held Nora up. Nora tripped and dropped her grenade launcher which Blake went to pick up. "Don't! Leave it." Jaune said stopping Blake from picking up the weapon. "It didn't kill you because you weren't armed." He helped Nora move as Blake and Ren stayed close to them. "No sport in it."

The camera changed to show Pyrrha moving down a slope and moving to a small bush that hides her. She is in position and now just needs to coordinate with Neptune. "Neptune," she whispers. "Neptune," she whispers again pushing some leaves away to see Neptune's body with a hole in his head.

"Any time." Neptune's voice gets Pyrrha's attention as she turns around with her weapon aimed at the trees and scanning the trees. Pyrrha looks at the trees but doesn't see anything a flash of yellow eyes that Neptune described appears. Taking aim, she fires her weapon at her target as a red laser appears followed by a blue ball that impacted against her right arm.

Pyrrha screams as her right arm is severed above the elbow, her arm falls to the ground still holding the trigger down causing her weapon to continuously fire.

Pyrrha held in her screams as she saw the creature running towards her at high speeds that no normal human is capable of. Taking the second SMG off her back Pyrrha takes aim just as she sees two serrated blades appear. The cloaked creature stabbed Pyrrha in the stomach and lifted her off the ground, Pyrrha screamed.

Jaune and his group crossed a river using a fallen log as a bridge when they heard Pyrrha's screams echoes through the forest. Everyone stops when they hear the screams and Jaune has a look of disbelief on his face.

"Let's go." He says as Nora grunts in pain as they continue. Ren throws the radio and his weapon off the bridge and into the river. Hearing the splash Jaune turns around to see removing his vest along with his vest. "Ren!" He shouts but Ren ignores him.

Ren takes off his necklace wrapping the strings around his left hand and grabs his machete. Jaune knowing what he is doing nods before telling Blake to move, Jaune and other two leave Ren on the bridge. Ren makes a cut on his chest then points the blade at the trees.

Blake climbs up some roots and turns around to help Jaune lift Nora up. "Give me the gun!" she yells before Jaune gives her his weapon so he can lift Nora with the help of Blake.

Infrared POV

The camera changes to show Ren's heat signature on the bridge.

Normal POV

Switching back Ren doesn't show fear as he faces his opponent. Blake runs ahead of Jaune and Nora before Ren's screams of pain sounds throughout the jungle. Quickly turning around Jaune and Nora aim their weapons down the path they just took. Blake is nervous while Nora is shaking, seeing something in the trees Blake tries to warn them but is too late when another blue ball was fired and hits Nora in the side of the head killing her. Jaune falls to the ground and rolls to recover, Blake sees the gun that Nora dropped.

"No!" Jaune shouted seeing Blake pick up the gun and quickly got to his feet as she picked up the SMG.

"Run!" Blake yelled aiming at the tree the shot came from. Before she could pull the trigger Jaune kicked the gun out of her hand and fired his weapon at the tree while Blake ran ahead. Jaune stopped firing and saw the outline lean out of the tree and fired at him, the projectile impacted against Jaune's vest right in the chest. Jaune is flung onto his back from the impact.

"Run! Go!" Jaune shouts at Blake who looks at him with concern. "Get to the chopper!" He orders her and Blake runs leaving Jaune behind. Jaune got to his back and reached for the clasps holding his vest in place and undid them, throwing his vest to the ground showed it to be smoking and burning where the projectile hit it.

Jaune is running through the jungle hoping that it is chasing him and not Blake.

Infrared POV

The creature is watching Jaune as he runs through the jungle and zooms in on in.

Normal POV

The camera follows Jaune as he runs through the jungle.

Infrared POV

The creature is right behind Jaune and is catching up.

Jaune continued to run even he tripped and fell down a hill and began sliding down the muddy hill. "Oh, shit." Jaune said after seeing that he's approaching a cliff. Sliding off of the cliff Jaune saw a lake with a small waterfall and hoped that it deep enough. Approaching the surface of the water Jaune straightened his legs and arms before he hit the water.

Jaune managed to get his above the water but is carried by the current off a second waterfall. Rising above the water Jaune sees land and begins swimming toward land. Crawling out of the water Jaune rests in the mud and catches his breath when the sound of something hitting the water gets his attention. Rolling onto his side gets more mud to cover his body as he rolls onto his back and moves back until he hits tree roots. Reaching for his pistol only to see it missing, Jaune curses his luck and spreads his arms to grab the roots of the tree in an attempt to blend in with the roots.

The creature rises out of the water allowing Jaune to see what he dealing with. It's cloaking field is flickering in and out and blue sparks appear all over its body, reaching for the gauntlet on its left arm and pushing some buttons ends the blue sparking. The creature looks in Jaune's direction causing Jaune to hold his breath.

Infrared POV

The creature looks at the tree roots only to see nothing and continues to look until it sees a heat signature in a log. A red triangle appears and zooms in on the heat signature and locks on.

Normal POV

Jaune watches as a red beam emanates from the side of creature's mask and the cylindrical object on its left pauldron comes to life and aims at the log before firing. A bright blue ball comes from the barrel of gun and hits the log causing a small explosion with sparks flying everywhere.

Jaune watched as the creature kick open the log only for a small animal to run out of the log. The creature growled in frustration before looking around the area near the water. Everywhere the creature looked its weapon followed. The creature decided to move on as it left the lake and headed back into the jungle.

Jaune breathed out in relief at seeing the creature leave. Jaune grabbed some mud off his body and look at it. "He couldn't see me." He said having found a way to hide from the creature.

Jaune covered himself in mud and made his way away from the lake and back into the jungle. Stopping near a large tree he sees a small crevice with two roots going over it. Stepping under the roots and through the crevice, Jaune examines the area and notices that it is a good place for another trap.

Jaune is currently tying sticks that have been sharpened into spikes to the roots above the crevice. Setting his knife aside Jaune lays some vines down in between the roots so they lay on the ground and camouflages them with dry leaves. Next he is on his back in the middle of the crevice and is pulling a vine attached to a log that he found, pulling the log as high it can go so it can it act as the counter weight. Jaune ties it off before going to work on the release mechanism. Tying the end of the vine holding up the log to a stick he places the stick in a notch that he carved in the roots and gently let's go, surprisingly the stick doesn't break under the weight and holds.

The scene changes to show the body of Ren looking bloody as the creature digs its hand into Ren's back and pull out his spine along with his skull and roars before kicking the body off the tree branch. The body then stops suspended in midair as it hangs upside down. The creature puts the bloody skull that still has bits of flesh clinging to it before a white smoke covers it.

Jaune sat in the trees with a small fire working on something. He is tying sticks together with the small vine in his mouth as he makes sure the bindings are nice and tight. The scene transitions to show Jaune bending the sticks over his shoulder, another transitions shows Jaune stringing a bow. Another transition reveals Jaune holding his makeshift bow with a nocked arrow and let go. The arrow flies and imbeds itself in a small tree, the arrow actually goes through the trunk. Moving on Jaune checks the pouches on his belt and pulls out two grenade rounds for his grenade launcher and some waterproof matches, taking his knife he loosens and removes the cap on one of the grenade rounds. Taking a leaf, he empties the explosive powder onto the leaf before wrapping the leaf up.

The scene changed to show the creature opening a case to show a collection of skulls that are clean of blood and polished. One of the skulls has a hole in it showing it to be Neptune's. The creature takes a skull in its hand before running his finger across it with affection.

Jaune goes back to the lake and begins to cover himself in mud, once he is fully covered Jaune grabs his bow, arrows and a makeshift torch. Walking on top of a fallen tree Jaune looks to the moon over the jungle, lighting two waterproof matches on a stub and then lighting the torch. Jaune waits for the torch to be fully engulfed in fire. "Aaaaagh!" Jaune yells at the top of his lungs as he raises the torch above his head. His yell can be heard throughout the jungle.

The scene changes to show the creature looking to the direction of the yell. Taking the laser from its mask, it runs the laser back and forth over the gauntlet blades. After a few passes they begin to glow red.

Switching back to Jaune, he waits for a few seconds before tossing the torch to a pile of logs that he made earlier, creating a bonfire. Jaune runs to a tree before climbing it and hugs the branch so he blends in and waits.

The scene changes to briefly show the creature jumping from tree to tree displaying its impressive agility before it activates its cloak. Going back to Jaune who is still waiting until he hears something behind him. The outline of the creature appears behind Jaune moving down the tree. Slowly turning his head to see the invisible creature pass him, Jaune uses a vine to swing from the tree he is using to another tree and wraps his arms around the trunk to blend in just in time as the creature looked into the trees.

Infrared POV

The creature made a passing glance at the glance at the trees and right at Jaune but didn't see him.

Normal POV

Jaune watched as his target jumped from the tree onto the ground and begaa walking on a fallen tree with the bonfire burning in the back. Reaching behind him, Jaune pulled out three arrows and one of the grenade rounds which he turned into an explosive arrow. Looking at the bonfire Jaune can see the outline of the figure more clearly.

Nocking the explosive arrow, Jaune carefully aims and lets the arrow go. The arrow flies through the air and impacts on the ground in front of the creature creating a small explosion. The creature screeches in pain as the invisible cloak drops showing the creature, activating its main weapon to start shooting in random directions at the trees. Jaune shields his face from the sparks and debris that are generated from the explosions as the creature continues to shoot at their trees.

One of shots hits the tree that Jaune is hiding in and falls down, quickly getting up Jaune runs off while the creature shoots at him. Taking cover behind rock Jaune holds his side in pain, he feels something warm against his hand, examining his hand he sees blood.

The creature stops firing after losing Jaune, blue sparks appear all of its body. Examining its gauntlet reveals that it is damaged, pressing some buttons gets the sparking to stop.

Jaune picked himself up and went to his second location and passed by a small tree branch to sway which the creature saw and went in the same direction of Jaune. Climbing down some rocks Jaune is crossing a tree bridge when the creature jumps in front of him, fortunately it isn't facing him. Looking for a place to hide Jaune looks down.

The creature looks around before walking across the bridge making sure to check the sides for anything. The camera moves under the bridge to show Jaune hanging on to the vines anchoring him to the underside of the tree.

Jaune waited for the creature to pass before climbing back to the top of the tree and going to his weapon stash. Grabbing two spears, one that has his knife tied to the end and the other with the last grenade round and goes to hunt the creature. Jaune stops at a boulder and looks to the trees for any signs of the creature. Looking down he grabs a rock and throws it in a random direction.

Infrared POV

Seeing the rock fall the triangle appears and locks on to the rock before firing.

Normal POV

Jaune sees where the blast game from and prepares to throw the explosive spear.

Infrared POV

Tracking the rock back to where it was thrown another triangle appears, locks on and fires.

Normal POV

Jaune leaps out of cover just in time as the spot he was standing in explodes and throws the explosive spear hitting the spot next to the creature in the trees rewarding him with a screech. Grabbing his last spear Jaune moves to the area under the tree and sees bright green blood droplets. "Bleed, you bastard." Jaune says with following the blood trail.

Jaune follows the trail into a cave where he loses the trail as it stops. Suddenly he heard the sounds of dripping and the camera changes to show Jaune's face and bright green blood dripping behind him. Knowing that the creature is behind him Jaune grabs a makeshift grenade from his hip, the grenade has two matches which act as the fuse for the explosive powder wrapped inside the plant leaves. Lighting the matches Jaune tosses the grenade behind him and runs out of the tunnel leaving his spear behind just as the grenade goes off creating a flash of light that blinds the creature. Jaune jumps and grabs a tree branch but the branch is broken when it is shot and Jaune falls into the river below.

Jaune swims making sure to stay under the water until he reaches land. Exiting the water Jaune rests on a log before moving to get up, but before he can two blades appear on either side of his head preventing him from moving. The camera pans up to show the creature is pinning Jaune to the log, removing the blades allows to Jaune to see the creature just as its hand grabs him by the throat and lifts him off the ground. Jaune is held a tree by the throat as the creature turns his head to the left and then to the right. The creature leans in almost face to face to Jaune before letting him go, Jaune watches the creature as it walks away before turning to face him again and Jaune wonders how tall it is.

The creature reaches up to its mask and pulls out a two cables connecting to the weapon on his shoulder, each time a cable is removes a short burst of air hisses out of the cables. Jaune watches the creature wondering what it is doing. Removing another series of cables underneath the pauldron, the creature removes the weapon and drops it into the water.

The creature then removes two cables from the underside of its mask before placing its hands on the front of the mask and removes it before tossing it aside. The vision also changes from infrared to bright red with elements of infrared since the creature can still see Jaune's body heat. Jaune sees the creatures face for the first time.

The creature has four mandibles with short tusks on the end and flaps of skin connecting them, it has no upper or lower lips only sharp teeth on the upper and lower jaw. The eyes sockets are sunken in giving the creature a more menacing appearance as yellow eyes can be seen against the darkness of the sockets. It has no nose and a large dome like forehead with what appeared to be small spikes sticking out of the side of the head.

Jaune looks at the creature in disbelief before speaking. "You are one ugly motherfucker."

The creature roars opening its mandibles and crouching as it moves toward Jaune who back away. Finding a broken branch Jaune waits for the creature to get closer before swinging the branch at it aiming for the head. The creature blocked the attack and the branch breaks just from impacting with the arm.

"Bad idea." Jaune says looking to the broken branch before the creature backhands Jaune knocking him away a good threw feet and into the water.

Jaune rises out of the water and scrambles out of the water with the creature right behind him. Climbing over some rocks just in time as the creature swung his arm, its nails creating sparks showing that its nails are just as deadly as its blades. Turning around Jaune hits the creature in the face stopping it which surprises Jaune. The creature looks at Jaune with one mandible is moving back and forth before it punches Jaune two times and uppercuts him throwing Jaune back. Jaune knows that he is outclassed so he decides to run only for the creature to catch up and elbow him in the ribs and punching him causing Jaune to spit blood from his mouth.

The creature roared again as it punched Jaune in the face drawing more blood and knocking him to the ground. Jaune started to crawl away while the creature walked behind him slowly allowing Jaune to get a good distance from the creature. Seeing the crevice Jaune crawled into the crevice and almost set off his own trap as he crawled through the small crevice and leaned against the tree so he is facing the small crevice.

The creature stops just before the crevice and kneels down to look at Jaune. Looking down Jaune sees the stick keeping his trap in place. "Come on. Come on! Do it! Do it!" He yells while gesturing to the creature to come at him.

The creature moves but stops when is feels something press against its forehead. Looking up it sees the spikes that Jaune placed earlier and grabs one of them. "Come on. Come on! Kill me! I'm here! Kill me!" Jaune continues to shout trying to goad the creature.

"I'm here! Kill me! Come on! Kill me! I'm here!" The creature looks at Jaune. "Come on! Do it now! Kill me!" He shouts but the creature ignores Jaune and goes around the crevice much to Jaune's dismay.

Jaune sighs as the creature jumped down from the top of crevice and lands next to Jaune. Looking to the creature Jaune then sees the counter weight that he set up for his trap right above the creature. Smirking to himself he quickly looks to the stick holding his trap and breaks it setting off the trap and letting the counter weight fall. The creature looks up and is crushed by the log.

Jaune sighs as his posture relaxes and he closes his eyes to rests his nerves when he hears the log moving.

Jaune grabs a nearby rock and goes over to the log ready to crush the creature's head in. when he sees the creature he stops; the creature is coughing up green blood and it is clear that it's no longer a threat to him. Throwing the rock away Jaune looks at the creature as it does the same. "What the hell are you?" he asks.

"What the hell are you?" The creature responds with a guttural and distorted voice. The creature raises it left arm and presses a button with his right hand, a panel opens up and it presses a few buttons in a pattern before the gauntlet comes to life displaying symbols that Jaune doesn't recognize followed a beeping noise.

Jaune looks to the gauntlet as the beeping increases and one of the symbols disappear. Then the creature begins to chuckle as Jaune puts the pieces together and starts to run as the chuckle erupts into flown blown laughter. The laughter turns into Ren's laughter as the creature mimics it perfectly as continues to laugh.

Jaune pushes himself to run faster as the laughter echoes throughout the forest but then stops when explosions can be heard. Lightning sparks arc into the air, a glowing ball floats into the air and expands in size before imploding and unleashing a bright light.

The camera changed to show a helicopter pilot who is struggling with the controls, sparks fly as something electronic exploded showing the cabin with sparks. "Did you get it?" The pilot asks a passenger who is shown to be General Ironwood. Ironwood grabs a fire extinguisher and puts out the sparks.

"I got it! I got it!" Ironwood says after getting the situation under control. Blake is covering her cat ears as she sits in the back of the cabin. The camera changes to show the copilot looking to something in the distance.

"What the..." He says and Ironwood looks out and sees a large cloud in the shape of a mushroom towering over the jungle. "My god!"

The camera changed to show the jungle floor covered in smoke, the trees are stripped of leaves leaving them bare and stripped of life. A large section of the jungle is now devoid of life and looks like something out of nightmare, a crater roughly 80 feet wide and 60 feet deep could be seen from the air. The helicopter starts to descend into the destroyed area of the jungle and clears some of the smoke to show Jaune walking through the destruction and towards the helicopter.

The helicopter hovers a few feet above the ground kicking up dirt and clears some of the smoke to show Jaune waiting for the helicopter. Inside the cabin General Ironwood is shocked to see the state Jaune is in and how he is the only one. Blake sees Jaune and happy that the man who saved her life is alive but she doesn't show it.

The scene changes to show Jaune sitting inside the cabin, he is covered in ash and has various wounds covering his body. The camera zooms in on Jaune's eyes, they look tired and move to see the passing jungle beneath the helicopter. The camera changes to show the helicopter flying over the jungle and going into the distance as the screen turns to black.

The scene showed the creature's mask buried in the mud with the top section sticking out. Suddenly it was lifted into air as it appeared to be floating in midair when a pair of hands appeared from nowhere as they held the mask to reveal another creature. This creature is similar to the one Jaune killed in terms of height and that is where the similarities end, the creature is wearing more armor and has two shoulder mounted weapons, one on each shoulder. A black cape with a deep rich red color on the inside hangs off the pauldron on the left shoulder.

The creature isn't wearing a mask showing its face, the face appears to be older based on the wrinkles on the face. Four more creatures appear as they drop their cloaking field behind the one holding the mask, one of them is holding a broken shoulder weapon. Making a guttural clicking sound the older creature turns around, his cloak and dreadlocks flaring out as it turned around. The creature passed by the four older ones who made room for it and walked forward with the others trailing behind.

Blue sparks appeared in the air and soon a large ship of unknown design appeared and a set of doors opened. The creatures entered the ship, once inside the doors closed and the ship lifted off the ground and flew into the air. The ship disappeared as it flew into the air. The scene changed to show Earth from space, the landmass of Remnant could be seen from space and soon the ship appeared flying away from the planet and fired something in front of the ship. A tear in space showed a different section of the galaxy and the ship passed through the tear, as soon as the ship passed the tear closed behind it.

The screen faded to black once again as guttural clicking could be heard followed by a roar.


End file.
